Firstly, I made a 14.8cm square card blank; but cutting a strip of the A4 card lengthwise at the 14.8cm mark and folding it in half.

I cut a 12cm square piece from the blue dotty patterned paper and stuck this, centrally, to the front of the card.

I cut a second panel, measuring 14.4cm square, to use as the insert. To make this, I simply stamped the sentiment in Perfect Medium and heat embossed this with silver embossing powder. Using the same silver powder and a Quickie glue pen, I drew a line around the edge of the paper and melted the powder before attaching to the inside of the card with double-sided adhesive.

I then cut a second piece of white card, measuring 12.5cm square and, using the largest circle die, I cut out a circular aperture (measuring just over 10cm). Using the Silver glitter glue, I drew a thin line around the edge of the panel and also around the aperture and set this aside to dry.

Once the glitter glue had dried, I attached it with Shaker foam to the front of the card.

Next, I stamped out the teddy bear and coloured this using Zig Clean Colour Pens. I stuck foam tape to his head and double-sided tape to the rest of his body and placed him on the card front.

I then die cut 4 balloons, from some of the scraps of white card left over and then coloured them using the Zig Clean Colour Pens. Once this had dried, I then stamped the letters on them to spell out BABY, using Black Archival ink. I stuck foam tape onto the backs of the balloon and attached them to the front of the card. I used foam tape for these in order to create some dimension on the card.

I used the silver glitter glue to draw on the strings of the balloons; before adding a few pearl dots with the Nuvo Crystal Drops. To finish the card, I covered the balloons and the nose of the teddy bear with Glossy Accents, giving them more of a 3D effect.

I hope you liked the card. If you like my projects, then please do follow my blog, or you can follow me on –

There is something quite satisfying about starting out with some plain white card die cuts and turning them into corroded metal looking embellishments. This was what I started playing with on the craft mat yesterday and then I decided to use them in a steampunk birthday card.

For the insert, I took one piece of the 14cm decorative paper. I stamped a distressed border around all 4 edges and a sentiment with Perfect Medium before heat embossing with the copper embossing powder. Using double sided tape, I attached this panel to the inside of the card blank.

Next, I took the teal coloured card and I gutted it (removed the central part with a cutting die – saved for a future project); and stuck this onto the front of the card blank, leaving an equal border around it.

Taking the second piece of the decorative paper, I used the clocks stamp and stamped the image in random places over the paper using Perfect Medium. I didn’t use an acrylic block for this, as I wanted a patchy spread of the design. I then sprinkled some of the 3 colours of Perfect Pearls over the top and, using a soft brush, made sure that it covered the whole of the stamped area, before brushing off the excess powder. The Perfect Pearls give a gentle shine and some interest to the paper without being overpowering.

Using the same distressed border as I used for the insert, I stamped this around the edges of the paper before heat embossing with the same copper embossing powder as before. I then stuck this paper on top of the teal card on the card blank.

For the sentiment, I stamped and heat embossed the word “Birthday” onto a piece of the decorative paper. I then die cut this using the smallest stitched rectangular die, before using the next size up die to cut a mat for this from the teal coloured card. I stuck the sentiment to the mat with foam tape, to add some dimension.

For the cogs, I die cut a number of cogs from the scraps of white card left from creating the card blank. I then covered the cogs with the Nuvo glue and sprinkled some Copper embossing powder over them. I then heated them to melt the powder. What I like about using glue instead of Perfect Medium for this technique is that it bubbles, which creates a lovely organic texture when it dries.

I then took a variety of colours of acrylic paint and, using my finger, I tapped some of each colour onto random parts of the cogs before setting aside to dry.

Once dry, I used the black Archival ink on the very edges, to dirty the elements up a bit; before adding some touches of the gilding wax in random areas to add some metallic shine.

I stuck a few cogs onto the card front with the Nuvo glue pen and used Pinflair glue gel to raise up the rest of the cogs up, to add more interest.

I used foam tape to attach the sentiment to the front of the card, adding yet more dimension. To finish, I placed random dots of the Enamel Accents, Crystal Drops and Stickles, to tie the whole project in together.

I hope that you liked this project. If you did, please follow me on this blog or find me on Facebook and please share with other crafty friends.

If you are interested in buying this card, it is listed for sale in my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/535010167/steampunk-cogs-birthday-card

There are a few things that bring out the child in me – chocolate oranges at Christmas (move over Terry, it’s not yours, it most certainly is mine), bubbles and the Red Arrows. I would pretend to be flying Red 1 when I was little, sat in a cardboard box and making all the vroom and whoosh noises and I would still love to get the chance to fly with them. One of my earliest memories is standing on Torquay harbour wall, with my mum and dad, watching them shooting over always precisely at 6.00pm and then the corkscrews, loops and hearts that the smoke trails left across the sky.

This weekend marked the second Torbay Airshow and, I have to say, it was pretty damn good. If you get the chance to see any of the air shows around the world, please do so. They truly are remarkable. The skill and precision involved will impress any one harbouring even the tiniest flicker of OCD in their personality.

True to form for summer on the English Riviera, it is a little overcast and the wind is whipping in from the sea. It’s summer for goodness sake – we’ve had warmer days in January!!!

Firstly, let me apologise…the quality of the photos is not fantastic…most were taken with my (not so fantastic) camera at full zoom, with all the shakiness that comes with a brisk wind and trying to hold the camera steady!!!!

So, just after 2 o’clock the planes start coming over. The sun is a bit shy, just peeking out from behind the cloud long enough to stop my teeth chattering before hiding behind the next cloud. I start taking photos, not sure how clearly the flying specks will show up with my camera on full zoom and then my camera switches itself off. The battery died. “For the love of…”; and, to add insult to injury, a low-flying seagull quite literally had the c**p scared out of it by a plane – all down my shoulder and arm.

Oooh, you know what I could do with right about now? A refreshing cold glass of Pinot Grigio and then I can settle down to watch the display. However, the cold bottle of plonk had first been opened some time over the Easter weekend and the remainder has been in the fridge ever since. It now smelt like vinegar and could be used to unblock the cloggiest of clogged drains. I opt to be quintessentially British and enjoy a nice hot mug of tea instead.

Two minutes until the 3 o’clock scheduled arrival of the Red Arrows. The excitement is palpable. I have a fully charged battery in the camera. I now resemble the dishevelled lookout in the crow’s nest on The Black Pearl. Hair tangled in the wind whipping around me and nose and cheeks bright red from the wind (sadly, not a tot of rum involved). My head and binoculars snapping this way and that, just trying to catch the first glimpse of the 9 planes in their Big Battle formation (it’s a real thing, honest, google it; it does kind of look like the Big Nine 2; but very different from the Wineglass 1).

With the naked eye, I spot some black specks in the clouds and start clapping like a demented seal. I grab the camera in order to get the money shot of the entrance of the planes and zoom in on – a flock of seagulls in the distance – as the Red Arrows thunder overhead in the other direction. Hrmph!!! I turned so quickly, I think I might have whiplash!

This year, I am determined to get a decent photo of them and here I am, clicking at anything and everything in the sky. This is when the sun chose to burst out from behind the clouds right in my eyeline and “Argh! My retinas are burning”. However, quite arty shot with a nice spectrum of colour visible in the cloud!!

Now, this is where I find a huge design flaw with these fabulous fandangled cameras. They have these huge screens on cameras and phones which are fantastic to view everything so clearly, until the sun comes out and all you can see is a reflection of yourself squinting with some distorted sneering expression as you are pointing the camera in the general direction of your subject matter and start clicking feverishly.

Needless to say, I have a fair few photos of clouds…

Smoke trails…

another (but, I think you will agree, much prettier) cloud…

a bird….(secretly quite like this one!)

OMG I got a photo of a plane and it looks like a plane, woo hoo!!!

Until next time Red Arrows. You were fantastic. Going to browse Amazon now for a camera with a decent zoom do-dah and one of those viewfinder thingies!!!!

Good morning folks. How are you today? As per regulations for bank holiday weekend, it is grey, raining and blowing a gale in Torquay today; and I am gutted, as one of my friends, Emily, is tying the knot with her fella Chris today and I am praying that the sun makes an appearance for them.

I am sure I am not the only one who has a garden overrun by daisies at the moment. After having found my Stamper’s Companion “Flower Garden” stamp set for the last card, I really wanted to find some way of using the daisy stamp and this card materialised.

I hope you like it, as per usual, the card is listed for sale in my Etsy store – please click the link to be redirected to the shop: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MyIvyHouse

Whilst I was sat enjoying my first coffee of the morning yesterday, I was hoping to get some inspiration for a project to use my Zig Clean Colour pens. A little brown bird flew down and landed on the table next to me (no idea what it was, but boy oh boy did it have a set of lungs on it!). It chortled away to itself for a short while, before losing interest and hopped off to scrabble around under the rose bush in search of breakfast instead.

I had a rummage through the crafty stash and found a flower stamp and bird stamp and the idea was born.

In order to get a layered look, I made a mask by stamping the flower design onto a post-it and cutting it out. I could then cover each flower in turn, to stamp the leaves around it. I then stamped the small bee on the right-hand side of the panel.

I coloured the image using the Zig Clean Colour pens and blended the colours with a water brush. I also added a thin grey line to the underside of the flowers, leaves and bird in order to create the effect of a shadow, to try and make them stand off the page.

Once the colour was completely dry, I then edged the panel using a Quickie Glue Pen and heat embossed this with gold coloured embossing powder.

I stamped the sentiment using Perfect Medium and heat embossed this using the same gold embossing powder.

I was not happy with how dark the bird looked, so using the water brush, I removed some of the paint from the bird and then applied tea rose, flesh and light pink, to make it appear a little brighter.

I stuck the panel onto the front of the card blank and then added some Glossy Accents to the bee for some added interest.

Here’s some photos of the finished card. I hope you like it. Have a lovely Friday and enjoy the long weekend 😊

I decided over the weekend to have a tidy up of my crafting area – it looks lovely and neat and tidy now; however, I am making a hell of a mess trying to find the things that I have so neatly boxed up.

So…here I am; after stating categorically I would not buy any further crafting supplies until after the next pay day, this beautiful stamp set by DaliART fell into my shopping basket the other day and arrived in the post this morning. I bought it primarily for the rose, as it is a nice generous size (about 4cm in diameter) and has a simple, non-fussy outline.

Hmm, now…if you were a Perfect Medium Ink Pad – where would you be hiding?

Firstly, I cut a piece of Kraft card 14.8cm wide and the full length of the A4 sheet and folded it in half to make a 14.8cm card blank.

I then cut 2 pieces of the decorative teal coloured dotty paper, one measuring 14 x 14cm, which I stuck centrally to the front of the card.

The second piece I cut 14.2 x 14.2cm, which I then stuck centrally to the inside of the card to form an insert.

Using the white card stock, I cut a panel measuring 14.6 x 14.6cm. Using the largest of the circle dies (measuring 10.2cm), I cut a circle aperture from the centre of the panel. I ran the panel through my Cuttlebug with a dotty design embossing folder.

Using a Quickie glue pen, I drew a thin line around the edge of the panel and the circular aperture, adding gold embossing powder and then heat to set it. I then attached it to the front of the card with Pinflair Glue Gel, to create some dimension.

I then made the embellishments. I stamped and heat embossed 3 of the rose outline stamps and 3 of the leaf outline stamps. Using the Zig clean colour pens, I put some colour on the bases of the petals and the centre of the leaves, before using a water brush to blend the colour outwards. I used the light blue shade for the roses and the oatmeal shade for the leaves. Once the roses were dry, I realised that they were much brighter than the decorative paper on the card, so I went back in with the oatmeal pen and added some more flicks coming from the base of the petals and then blended this shade into the blue, giving a more vintage shade.

To make the sentiment tag, I cut a piece of the white card stock to a 6 x 4cm rectangle. I then trimmed the 2 corners at one end, before stamping and heat embossing the “thank you” sentiment and then also edging the tag with gold embossing powder, to match the main aperture of the card. I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch a hole in the top, added a white eyelet and threaded a small scrap of teal coloured satin ribbon from my stash. To finish it off, I added a few drops of Nuvo crystal drops, to tie in with the colour scheme of the card.

Finally, I put the piece together using Pinflair glue gel to raise the elements off the card and create a 3D effect with more layers.

Good morning! How is life treating you today? Maisie woke me at just after 3 this morning, albeit trying to save me from the terrifyingly huge moth; but, it is entirely possible that she wreaked more havoc that the winged avenger. Anyhow, she is all tuckered out and snoring in her bed, so it gives me time to upload this short tutorial on a card that I made for a relative’s 70th birthday.

He loves all things Elvis and was lucky enough to be taken to Graceland, Nashville and Vegas to celebrate the big 7-0. I didn’t want to go OTT with a card for him, and kept it quite simple using only 3 colours: white, black and red.

Supplies:

Centura Pearl Snow White A4 Card; Crafter’s Companion

Matt Black card; Crafter’s Companion

Santoro paper

Happy and Birthday stamps – “Must Have Retro Words”; Woodware

Best wishes stamp; Woodware

Guitar stamp; Docrafts Papermania

“Splats and Stains” stamps; Crafter’s Companion

Distressed Film Strip stamp, Kaisercraft

Stickles “Christmas Red” Glitter Glue; Ranger

“Lapis Black” Embossing Powder; Cosmic Shimmer

Perfect Medium embossing ink pad; Ranger

Glossy Accents; Ranger

Glue Gel; Pinflair

Tacky PVA Glue, Anita’s

How I made it:

I cut a piece of white card stock, measuring 14.5cm x 29cm, folded it in half to create a 14.5cm square card blank, and then removed a 4cm wide strip from outside edge of the front of the card.

For the insert, I cut a piece of decorative paper to 14cm x 14cm. I then added a heat embossed border and sentiment, before sticking to the inside of the card.

I then turned my attention to the front panel of the card. I used a deep red paper from Santoro, and cut this to 14.1cm x 10.1cm. Using a guitar and texture stamps, I stamped with Perfect Medium and sprinkled over Lapis Black embossing powder and heat set this, to add some interest to the background. I then stuck this directly onto the card blank.

I drew the outline of Elvis and a vinyl record on a piece of cardstock and then coloured them in using ProMarkers. I covered them in a layer of Glossy Accents and left them to dry completely.

Using some chipboard numbers, I covered a 7 and a 0 with Stickles red glitter glue and left them to dry completely, before covering with Glossy Accents.

Once both Elvis and 70 were dry, I stuck them to white cardstock and matted them onto black card, leaving a 1mm border all around. Then I added a border with the Stickles Glitter Glue.

I then stamped and heat embossed the Happy Birthday sentiment, and matted these onto black card, leaving a 1mm border all around, and finishing with a red glitter glue border.

Lastly, I assembled all the pieces, paying attention to not apply glue to the back of the pieces overhanging the edge of the card

Another early wake up today…so much for Sunday morning lie-ins. Anyhow, the bay is looking beautiful this morning with plenty of blue sky and a few lilac wispy clouds and not a breath of wind – still bloody freezing out there mind you.

So, I am sat at my desk, hot coffee in hand and the cat (Maisie) sat on the bed chattering to me about Lord only knows what – how can someone have so much to say so early in the morning?

I have been scatter-brained recently – too may thoughts in my head that I just haven’t been able to co-ordinate them into any logical plans as yet. Found this quote, by a chap called John Green, that perfectly summed up what is going on in this old head of mine.

From yesterday’s post, you will know I am having a bit of a love affair with my new Dymo gadget, so he has been pulled out again to be used today. My second love, thanks to a young lady called Marta Lapkowska, are Lindy’s Stamp Gang sprays – I am addicted. I started off with 2 and my collection is now rapidly growing. The finish they give is stunning saturation of colour with a nice shot of mica shine running through them. They work equally well in art journals pages as on a canvas. I usually pull out my blues / greens / teals colours; however, having recently bought some hotter summer colours (for an African sunset canvas idea) I thought they might go quite well in a constellations / nebula design.

I didn’t bother painting a coat of gesso first; however, as it was a central page in the journal, I did put a strip down the fold in the pages, just to stop any of the paint leaking through to the other pages. I just dove straight in, using the Lindy’s Stamp Gang Sprays and starting with the black shade in 2 opposite corners, moving down through the darker shades, through to red and orange. I overlaid it all with a coat of the silver and gold. I dried the page thoroughly with my heat gun and then went over the page again following the same colour scheme as the first time. Again, I dried the page, before adding some white down the very centre of red/orange panel. Looks at the shimmer from that mica!!!!

I then added some stars, by adding some Titanium White acrylic paint from Daler Rowney to my craft mat and thinned it down with some water, before creating splatters over the page with a fan paint brush (gently tapping the body of the brush against my finger). In order to add a little more sparkle, I used “Confetti” Stickles from Ranger in places and smoothed the lines of glue with my finger to blend it into the page, as I did not want harsh lines of the glue.

Next, I took my lovely little Dymo Omega machine and typed out my quote; before sticking it centrally down the page.

I am off to prep some canvases this morning and I am thinking a lemon drizzle cake might be a good idea too 🙂 Have a lovely day x

I woke up at stupid o’clock this morning, thanks to a crow who seems to think that 4.30am is just the right time to sit outside my bedroom window and scream blue murder at his reflection. So, I found myself fully caffeinated and raring to go at the unearthly hour of 5 o’clock.

I don’t think the family would be too impressed if I actually hoovered the flat, so I thought I would put my energy into an art journal page instead.

I found this quote from Evel Knievel the other day and thought it was perfect for an art journal page with my new hot air balloon die. I have no idea who the company is who made the die, as I got it from eBay and it was one that was sent from China – needed to run it through my trusty Cuttlebug with a shim and it took a couple of passes to cut fully, but for £2.99 and free P&P it didn’t seem like much extra work!!

Okay, so here we go:

I started with the die cutting…using Joanna Sheen’s “Seagull” die and the hot air balloon die. I cut this onto plain white card stock.

I wanted to add a bit of interest to the hot air balloon, so using a scrap of decorative paper from my stash, I create a back for the balloon. I then accented this with some Stickles in “Confetti” from Ranger and also added some pearl dots using Nuvo Crystal Drops in “Navy Blue” from Tonic. I then decided to fill in the gaps using Glossy Accents from Ranger, to create a more 3D effect to the balloon. I left this to dry completely and moved onto the page background.

I am working in my large Dylusions Art Journal for this project and made this a landscape layout.

Using a baby wipe and some “Periwinkle” Docraft Artiste acrylic paint, I covered the page. I wasn’t too careful about this as I didn’t mind having a slightly blotched effect.

Next, and while the blue paint was still a little tacky, I added some Pebeo white gesso, using another baby wipe and dabbed it gently in various places over the page to create clouds. I left this until it was completely dry and then went in again with the baby wipe and gesso, to make some of the whiteness of the clouds a little more vibrant. I left this to dry completely.

To add some sparkles of sunlight on the tops of the clouds, I dug out my “Crystal” Glitter Glue from Dovecraft and applied it to the very top edges of the clouds and, using my finger, I smoothed the glue out a little, to fade it into the main body of the clouds.

Now…you can tell I have a new toy, as this gadget will be appearing in LOTS of card designs and art journal pages – I am a little in love with my new Dymo Omega gadget!!! I adore the effect of the embossed white text onto the shiny black background…the fact that it kind of reminds me of the Star Trek Enterprise might also have something to do with it LOL

So, I used the Dymo to type out the quote for the page and then stuck it in place on the page. Finally, I added PVA glue to the die cuts and stuck them on.

Ta-Dah! Quick and simple journal page for today.

In the spirit of enjoying life as much as you can – have a wonderful day, whatever you are up to. I am off to see what I can put labels on in the kitchen 🙂 xx

Green is starting to crop up everywhere at the moment – cushions, wallpaper, fashion and jewellery; and you are going to be seeing much more of it. “Greenery” has been named as Pantone’s colour of 2017 and is set to have a big influence on the fashion and interior design industries this year.

For me, green is indicative of spring-time and a time when we celebrate green in all of its hues – lush grass, fresh buds and leaves on the trees, juicy Golden Delicious apples and zesty limes.

Green is a wonderfully neutral colour that can be incorporated with many others – you just have to look at nature to see the abundance of combinations. Here, at My Ivy House, I am embracing green in all of its shades this Spring-time, from deep tourmaline, through to rich emerald and the fresh, almost zingy, tones of peridot.

Here’s a glimpse of some of the greenery inspired pieces of jewellery for this month. For further details please visit http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/my_ivy_house to see the items I currently have for sale.